The World Championships in Amber Collecting – Jantar

"The Polish Amber Coast" is a strip of the Baltic shore stretching from the area of Słupsk to the beaches of Gdańsk Bay and the Vistula Spit, where amber - the Gold of the North - can be found.

For thousands of years the centre of its collection has been the region of the Vistula Spit, where the village of Jantar is located. The skills and tools of old are gradually falling into oblivion, and the "soul" of amber is slowly vanishing. The desire to hold back time was behind the idea of organising the World Championships in Amber Collecting. The Championships are not a classic sporting event, but more like a recreational one. Locals and tourists collect the amber that was first scattered on the beach. Due to its geographical setting, the event takes place in many seaside towns and cities at the same time. The semi-finals are organised in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Hel, Dębki, Krynica Morska, and Kąty Rybackie, to name but a few, and also in the Russian town of Yantarny located in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The World Champion titles, awarded every year, show that amber is a globally-significant resource. The two-day finals in Jantar are accompanied by artistic events and competitions, both on stage and the beach, which are called "Find the treasure in amber". There is also a picnic and an annual popular-science conference to disseminate knowledge about amber, the Baltic's natural environment, and the centuries-old history of amber extraction and processing.